


As Long As We're Together (There's No Place I'd Rather Be)

by JustALittleBitOfYou



Category: Skam - Fandom
Genre: All Squads Really, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ballon Squad, F/M, Fireworks, Hurt/Comfort, Karaoke, M/M, Panic, Party, Post Break-up, boys squad, drunk games, girls squad, suicide attemps
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-02 13:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11509974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustALittleBitOfYou/pseuds/JustALittleBitOfYou
Summary: It's been a year since Even Bech Næsheim and Isak Valtersen broke-up. Well, technically, it's been a year since Isak sent Even away without a real reason. As they both try to rebuild their life, the Bech Næsheim siblings decide to host a one-week party in Mia's and Even's new couple's honor. Isak attends the party, without knowing the identity of the hosts. When they meet again, will the worlds the three broken persons poorly built come crashing down? Or will they just come out stronger? Promises are made, secret are uncovered, hearts are mended and broken...





	1. I Can't Beleive I Said I'd Lay Our Love On The Ground

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this is my first fanfic on ao3 and I'm very excited. I've read hundreds and hundreds of stories but never actually opened an account so...  
> In my head canon and in the story, Even has a sister called Mia and moved out from Oslo to the countryside (because why not?). Also, a lot of things are unexplained until some point in the story, so if you don't understand everything it's perfectly normal!  
> Also, English is not my first language at all so there must be grammatical and construction mistakes, but I'll try to avoid most of them.  
> Enjoy the story ~~

Okay. Here we are. A one-week party, isn't that amazing? His suitcase lays beside him, but he can't close it, of course. Then again, Isak Valtersen is not exactly known for traveling light. His friends used to joke about it being his "gay thing". Well, they used to, Isak guess. He is not gay anymore, not for the new people in his life. Too much trouble, too much hurt, too little to win. Not since he is gone. *Not since you sent him away without an explanation*, the voice in his head tells him. Isak sighs and tries to close his suitcase, because damn if he is going to sacrifice his hair products. 

~~  
\- You think I care about my hair ?  
\- Well, maybe not right now, but some other times...  
~~

Isak casts the memory away, because he can't think about Even, he just can't.  
\- Fuck this shit! he says furiously, hitting his suitcase with his fist.  
\- Isak? What's wrong?  
And here's to you Lily Collins, a pretty blonde girl Isak has been dating for three months now, and who definitely does not look like Even. Not the slightest. Lily Collins, the first of a very long list that doesn't know Isak is gay. Like, a hundred percent gay. But he is dating a girl, because reasons. Anyway, she is now standing at the door, looking at her (gay) boyfriend with a half-amused, half-annoyed look on her face.  
\- It's just my suitcase who casually decided it won't close. And we leave in, like, ten minutes, and I still have to do a great number of things and this is just pissing me off!  
\- Come on Isak, it's no big deal. Just remove something!  
Isak is pointedly looking at her like Lily just said he should cut a limb or something.  
\- No way! These are all things I need!  
She chuckles and goes back to whatever she was on about (probably finishing her own bags, but Isak can't even pretend to care). He likes Lily, alright? She is pretty (that's what Magnus says so...) and kind and smart and she is just good to Isak, you know? Stable. No bad surprises, no broken hearts when it's over. Joan, Isak's uni best fiend (she is not his best friend, she can never be his best friend, not like...), always sighs when he talks about her saying she "won't be broken-hearted, whatever happens". Because apparently, it's not good to think about the break-up when everything is going perfectly. Then again, Joan doesn't know it's not going perfectly since Isak is gay, but it doesn't matter (okay, it really does). He has been pretending to be straight for years anyway, so it doesn't really change that much. *Right, except all of your friends know it and you know it and you've accepted it*. Anyway, Joan doesn't know him. Joan isn't his best friend.

~~  
\- Isak? This is my sister, Mia.  
\- Hi! I'm Mia, Even's a bit hyperactive little sister. So you are Isak... Oh my God, I've heard so much about you! I am so glad we finally meet!  
~~

"Fuck my life", Isak mutters. Because not only he misses Even like crazy (but that is kind of a secret), he also would give up on a great lot of stuff to have his best friend back. So yeah, he hides a lot from Joan (and Lily, and others), and that is the main reason why he doesn't really listen to her when she gives him lessons and advices.

*Okay, to great ills, great remedies...* Isak's internal voice tells him. So he sits quite violently on the suitcase and puts all of his forces in closing it. Which definitely works, if you forget the little cracking noise. Isak decides to forget it.  
\- Lily? Are you ready?  
\- Yeah? You're the one we've all been waiting for! she shouts from the living room.  
Isak hears light footsteps and then Lily is back in their bedroom and Isak just have to hide a whole lot of emotions inside him, again. *And sure enough she has had the time to paint her nails while I've been closing my suitcase, for Gods sake*.  
\- So you finally managed?  
\- Seems like it.  
\- You see? It wasn't that of a big deal!  
\- Yeah, I know... But, you know how I am when I can't do something...  
\- Of course grumpy head! I know you well!  
*Right. Of course you know me.*  
\- Huhum.  
*Liar, why do you agree with her. Liar*  
\- Come on! Everyone's waiting for us! Wouldn't want twenty-one persons we'll be living with for a week to actually hate us right from the start, right?  
\- Right, he says with what probably looks like a smile. Let's go!  
\- And I don't even get a kiss before we go?  
\- Come here.  
Lily steps closer and Isak counts to three before pecking her lips and taking a step backward. His girlfriend doesn't seem satisfied, if her pouting is anything to go by. She crashes her lips against Isak's and slips her tongue into his mouth. The kiss is languid and slow, and Isak doesn't do anything, he just stands there and lets Lily lead the dance. It's pathetic, really. He should like it, he should at least pretend to like it. Maybe he is tired of pretending to be something he is not. He suddenly has a urge to cry his despair to the world because *what the hell was I thinking when I told him it was over?* But Lily is kissing him, she is eager, and he can't just break down here. *Yeah, fuck my life*.  
\- I love you, Lily whispers still on his lips.  
Okay, he is tired of pretending. But he is also a known coward. He is like the number one coward in Oslo.  
\- I love you too, Lily.  
Her smile makes him want to crawl away, makes him want to hide somewhere dark when nobody can see how broken he is, how fake he is. He is a jerk, he knows it. Lily loves him, and he will never love her back. Their story is doomed. He'll hurt her, like he hurt Emma, like he hurt Even. 

~~  
\- You'll be okay Even, you'll have a fantastic life. You're strong and wonderful and...  
\- No I won't. I won't be okay Isak, I'll never be okay.  
~~

He remembers his voice: broken, hurt, pleading. Like Even was begging him to ask him to stay, to tell him that everything would be alright. But Even was right, everything wouldn't be okay, because Isak decided he couldn't... *He couldn't what exactly?*  
\- Isak? Honey? You okay?  
\- Huh?  
\- Are you alright? You seemed off for a minute...  
\- Yeah yeah, I'm fine. Let's go.  
*Liaaaar*  
He takes his suitcase and her hand and walks out of their little flat (the same one he once shared with Even). He closes the door and takes the stairs because of course the lift isn't working due to "technical problems" (that's what the agency said) and it can't be fixed for at least two months. And of course he trips on the stairs to the last floor and manages to somehow twist his ankle. Fuck.  
\- You okay?! says his girlfriend, and that worried tone really shouldn't annoy him, but for some reason it does.  
\- I'm fine! Stop worrying every minutes please....  
They walk in what is probably and awkward silence after that, side by side, towards a bus that will take them to a one-week party in the countryside, away from all his problems, he hopes.

And yeah, sure, he is okay. He is just a boy haunted by his ex, and clearly not over him. But he is great.


	2. Hey Brother, Do You Still Believe In One Another

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! Thanks for the kudos and the comments, they made me very happy. Glad you're enjoying the story so far!  
> This chapter is from Mia (Even's OC sister) point of view.  
> Hope you like this chapter!

\- Eveeeen! Even! Come on! We have to get ready and everything, and the guests arrive in like twelve hours and twenty-two minutes!  
\- Twelve hours and twenty-two minutes? For real Mia?  
\- Yeah for real! Precision is the key to every success, now come on.  
\- Fuck, you're impossible...  
\- But you love me anyway, sleepyhead!  
\- Yeah whatever... It's eight in the fucking morning, and it's Sunday. That is a problem.  
\- Even...  
\- Huuuggh...  
Okay, well, nobody dares to tell Mia he didn't deserved it.  
\- TICKLES ASSAULT!! shouts the seventeen-year-old girl (almost eighteen, mind you).  
\- What the... No! Mia stop! Stop! Oh god you are such a horrible person! I swear to Jesus...  
\- You don't even attempt to pretend to believe that! Get up! Get. Up!  
He glares at her, but the smile spreading on his lips gives him away really fast and they end up side by side, lying on their back and laughing like crazy. And maybe they are a bit crazy, but it doesn't matter. *Proud to be crazy*, Mia thinks with a sarcastic grunt, and she smiles. Because it's been a long long time since her brother and her laughed like this. No sadness, no tears, not right now. She cherishes that moment, because it could be gone in an instant. That is what the last year has been about. Good moments broken in a nanosecond, laughs dying because of two words and an half... One year, two months and twelve days. Four-hundred and thirty-eight days. *Precision is the key to every success*. That's a saying Mia took from her mother. She used to say that a lot to her when she was little and she would come home crying because the other children would have joked about her being a "maniac". And being a "maniac" was always associated to her brother's illness. She loves him with everything she is and his illness is something they have always been open about around each-other. But it doesn't make it fair, it doesn't mean people can just mock her because "her brother is nuts". He is not nuts, he is bipolar. But they never get that. People used to say he couldn't feel anything, but they were wrong. Oh how wrong they were. For the past year, she's been wishing he couldn't feel anything, and then she would blame and hate herself for ever thinking that.  
\- Okay, now that you woke me up, don't even think about taking a fucking nap or something!  
She sticks her tongue to him and he just huffs in return. She puffs, takes a look at her white watch her mother has given her for Christmas, and declares:  
\- Okay, I am leaving you exactly thirteen minutes and forty-eight seconds to do whatever you do in the morning. I'm waiting for you downstairs.  
\- Can I ask for forty-nine seconds?  
\- Smart ass, and that's a no. I'm coming back if you are not downstairs at that exact time! Bye!  
And she nearly runs out of her brother's room and down the stairs. Everything is quiet in the house, but not for long. Because this year the Bech Næsheim siblings decide to organize a one-week party in their countryside oncle's house. The event is officially Mia eighteen's birthday and Even and Susan's six months. But it's really about partying, no reasons. Because Mia really doesn't need a party opened to anyone who wants to get drunk and high for a week. As for Even and Susan, well. That's a bit complicated. Because they have been together for six months and Mia is very happy for her brother, but she is not that stupid. Susan is a tall brunette with long straight hair and a frange. She has dark eyes and hates everything that has to do with science. So yes, Mia is not stupid and she knows very well why Even is dating someone who is the complete opposite of his ex, who is also Mia's best friend. And anyway, she has letters that prove that she is right, so... *No, don't think about this Mia. Do not think about this.* She pours herself a cup of coffee. Black. No sugar. Pure. Strong. As to cast the thoughts away. The worst thing (beside her brother being devastated) is that she wants to hate Isak, she really does; and she tried to for a long time. But she can't hate him, she can't not love him because their bond is beyond her brother and nothing can change that. She understood that four months ago, and now she doesn't even try anymore. She is just tired of being scared every day, at every hour, every minute, every bloody second. But Mia is a natural happy person. So even if she is terrified and hurt and sometimes wants everything to stop, she keeps her good mood without having to pretend it. So that is why she is not sure about the whole "celebrating the couple" thing. But it's okay, she loves partying. *And okay, the coffee might have spilled on my just washed shirt.* Shit. She checks her watch and *fuck only three minutes and seven seconds left*. She races into her room because there is no way she is letting Even win in this punctuality battle. She takes off her light pink shirt for a white short-sleeved one. One minute and fifty-eight. *Ha ha! I win.*  
Downstairs, she puts paper and silk sheet and pens on the big round table and waits for her brother. He shows up exactly on time and she can't help but smirk.  
\- Oh, shut up, says Even.  
\- You know it's not actually believable when you bit your cheeks to stop from laughing right? I scaaare you... Admit it admit it admit it!  
\- Don't we have more important things to do? Like getting the house ready for a party?  
\- What do you think I have been up to? Okay. We have to make plans and maps of the house.  
\- To which purpose?  
\- So we can move the furnitures without having to think about it and ending up starting over twenty-nine times! she tells him, *and isn't it the most obvious thing in the world?*  
\- Of course! That is so logical!  
\- Shut up! she jokes handing him a sheet of paper and two pens, black and red.  
The look Even is giving her is priceless, like he is just realizing she is being serious about this.  
\- You think I was fooling around? Come on, red is for final position, black is for initial.  
\- Mia?  
\- What?  
\- You're completely mad.  
\- Yeah well, stick with it.  
\- Okay, so... You want me to do the living room while you do the bedrooms? his voice is now laced with affection and something that looks like concern, but Mia shrugs it off.  
She smiles brightly at him and nods. She has a job now, getting everything they really care about to safety. Because she trusts people (even if this is an open-bar party) but drunk persons are reckless, and somethings (a lots of things) are way too private to be seen by a stranger.  
\- See you in one hour ? she asks.  
The look Even is giving her is priceless: somewhere between smug and incredulous.  
\- What? I've got something on my face?  
\- I am really surprised you didn't put a seconds precision in this.  
\- Oh but I did. One hour means one hour, not one hour and a second or fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds.  
\- Would you quit being such a smart ass! he grunts  
\- Love you Even! she says climbing the stairs three at a time.  
\- Love you too, he yells.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments are appreciated! And English is not my first language... ~~  
> Next chapter should be updated soon, then the updates could be a little longer so sorry about that.


	3. These Wounds Won't Seem To Heal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! This chapter is from Even's point of view and introduces a lot of new characters!  
> Enjoy ~~

When Mia has left, Even chuckles to himself. To put it frankly, the situation is quite ironical: it's almost half past eight in a sunny Sunday morning and he is drawing tables, chairs and desks on a piece of paper when he really should be sleeping. But they kind of have this party beginning this evening, and he doesn't want everyone to think he doesn't really care that much about that party. They would be right, but that is beside the point (isn't it?). When Susan said they should do something big for their six months together, he was very skeptical. But then Mia managed to convince him: it was her eighteen's birthday in a couple of weeks, and Even had wanted to do something special for his little sister. God knows where he would be without her right now.

~~  
"Even stop! You can't ruin your life like that over and over again! There are people that care about you, that love you and support you whatever you do, you can't do that to them! You can't do that to me, please. Please, just stop. You're strong and you're so much braver than anybody, including you, thinks. You'll get through this and I can help you, I will help you. It doesn't have to end like this. I am hear and a lot of people are here too. And we will be there and... please. Just stop destroying yourself."  
~~

And he did, for a little while. So, for his sister, as a "thank you" gift, he accepted to host this party. But the open-bar was definitely not Mia's idea. Susan had insisted, they argued a lot about it, until she reminded him this was also her party and, yeah, there is not a lot you can do when that reason is put on the table. So he agreed, and Susan was happy again. So now here he stands, thinking about technical stuff he never took care of before. Like, how was he supposed to know if a bloody closet now standing peacefully in the left corner of the living room fits in the right corner of said room? *Yeah man, but Mia will kick your ass if you don't finish this in one hour and zero seconds...*  
It's exactly nineteen minutes and two seconds to eleven when Even hears his sister's light footsteps coming down the stairs. And that is also more or less around the exact minute in which Even finishes his "task", God bless him (because you do not want to be Mia's wrath prey).   
\- Hi! You finished?  
\- Yeah... What about you?  
\- Of course I finished! You are insulting me! It's you I was worried about, slowpoke!  
Beyond the joke and the light tease, Even can see sadness in his sister's eyes. He thinks he knows why said sadness is lodged there and damn it, you put that sadness in those eyes. You're an asshole, Even.*  
\- You okay? he asks (and yes, he knows the answer because he knows his sister and she is not alright)  
\- Yeah I'm fine. Just... you know... the usual...  
\- Mia...  
\- Even don't worry about me.  
\- I always worry about you, you're my little sis'.  
\- Yeah well, I should worry about you more than you should worry about me.  
\- You know I'm okay, right?  
\- You always say you're okay, and then... you just... snap.  
*Tell her you're sorry, stupid fuck.*  
The look they share could be considered as heavy, but they both know what the other is thinking, what the other is feeling. No words are needed between the siblings. Unfortunately, the moment is broken when a loud ringing echoes into the house, startling Even and Mia.  
\- Fucking hell! Is that the bloody bell? Mia asks.  
\- Definitely sounds like it... But who the hell would be here so soon?!  
And okay, his sister might be looking at him with a smug look. And she definitely looks like she is going to burst into laughter at any given time.   
\- You invited someone over, didn't you? Even inquires raising his eyebrows.  
\- Maybe... Maybe not...   
\- Oh my God, you totally did! You disturbed another person's sleep schedule!  
\- Stop being so dramatic! It was not even that early...  
Even playfully flips his sister of before standing up from his perfectly confortable couch to open the door to whoever his sister decided should definitely come into their house at eleven in the morning, when he himself was supposed to sleep at eleven in the morning on a Sunday. He opens the door and *I am so gonna kill her.* In front of him stand not one but four people. And he is happy his friends are here, okay, but then again it's fucking eleven in the morning.  
\- Even, man! How are you? a tall dirty blond asks.  
\- Yeah! We haven't seen each other in forever! a pretty little Chinese girl says.  
\- Willa? It's been like forty-eight hours since we saw each other, that is not the definition of forever.  
\- Let her talk, Jamie, let her talk...  
\- Oh fuck off Speck!  
\- Ok guys, do you wanna get in or... I mean, now that you're here...  
\- Yeah yeah sorry Even, we're coming.  
Okay. So these people that invaded Even's perfectly calm house are Finn (his real name is Finnegan but whatever) Willa, James and Spector (everybody calls him Speck, but Even hates it, feels like a ham name). They are probably the only four friends Even and Mia have outside of Oslo (where they have lots of friends but... yeah). When they ran away (Mia says they just left, but Even knows better), they left everything and everyone behind without an explanation (they are all his friends anyway so they probably know by now), and Finn and Spector had been the first to reach out to them. They were lost, and broken, and cold, and Spector and Finn took care of them and helped them find their way. Later, Willa came around. She was sweet and joyful, and she probably couldn't hurt a fly even if she wanted to. James was the last one to join their little group. He is handsome and funny and witty and kind (his sister's word) and Mia probably has a crush on him (but that is a secret, obviously). It was weird to Even, like a second life with nothing actually linking him to Oslo. Well, except him. It was a restart, forgetting (putting aside) all the hurt, all the lies.   
\- You all came! Mia's voice snaps him away from his thoughts.  
\- Yeah, here we are! Spector answers.  
\- But it better be damn good, because it's kind of early, you know, Finn pouts.  
Okay, Finn might have a crush on Mia, but that is a no way thing. Mia rolls eyes and Even grunts.  
\- Yeah, that's what I've been trying to tell her since eight o'clock...  
\- Eight o'... What the fuck were you two doing awake at eight o'clock? James says raising a single eyebrow.  
\- Ask my sister, man...  
\- Come on, we have a party to organize and I am certainly not the one who decided to start preparing it on due date!  
\- Yeah, well, it wasn't my idea either, Even defends himself because, again you don't want to be the prey of Mia's wrath.  
\- Well with all my respect to Susan whom I love very much, it was the worst idea ever.  
Even looks pointedly at her because he knows for a fact that it's a lie. Mia Bech Næsheim doesn't like Susan at all. But the smile she gives him is so bright and voluntarily hypocritical that he can't help but smile back. She looks at him like she won and *yeah, he is gonna kill her.*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Next update should be in four or five days!  
> ~~

**Author's Note:**

> So? Was it horrible? Reviews are welcome, good or bad.  
> Next update should be from one to three days forward so stay tuned (if you liked it)! ^^


End file.
